Tuesday, September 20, 2005

I totally won Word of the Day today

Today's word of the day from www.m-w.com was misbegotten, and I totally nailed it in a inter-company memo. Rock on!

Yesterday was National Talk Like a Pirate Day, so it was duty to inform the department. My ship-mates (arg!) took to it like the troopers they are. In our morning round-up meeting, they asked what today was... So I've made Sept. 20 "Academy Awards Acceptance Speech Day." Which totally rocks when you think about it - I ended the morning round up with, "I'd like to thank everyone for making this huddle successful. Without you..." Ha ha ha.

Good thing I'm pretty good at what I do, huh?

Thursday, September 15, 2005

Getting Your S*** Together, Part II

Master stroke by our President in taking "responsibility" for Katrina's aftermath. His leadership was quickly followed by LA Governor taking responsibilty and... you guessed it... New Orleans Mayor taking responsibility. Blame game over. All win.
Bush has now established the high road beach head. He gets to run the Congressional inquiry into the failures of Katrina's aftermath. Bad bad bad. He will choose people from the City, State, Red Cross and other agencies who tow the party line. The Final Report will be a best seller - but it will have no definitive results. There will be no change to disaster relief. It will find that all agencies acted appropriately and the breakdown was due to Thugs who kept the first responders out.
Preparedness for a San Fran earthquake will be studied and found appropriate.
Bio-terror in NYC? No problem.
The Chicago River springing a leak (again)? We'll have a fish fry.
Now... if we're talking about another hurricane, perhaps Biloxi, or the Florida panhandle... that's a different story. In fact, it's not a story at all. Those scenarios won't even be in the Final Report.
Now I'm watching President Bush giving his address from NOLA. He's already set the stage for the Thugs. And something I should have anticipated - the list of heroes. The spirit of the American people. Oh yeah - we'll be bathed in the faith of the People. Crap.


In other news: Apparently a relationship founded on disaster relief lasts only until the next disaster.

Wednesday, September 14, 2005

Signs of Life Returning

I realized tonight that I'm on approach to life as normal. I'm at home, hacking away on my laptop trying to get approvals on statements and releases and all that... and watching TV of course. And tonight I remembered to turn on Comedy Central in time for The Daily Show - my succor. Since Katrina, I've been glued to CNN, Fox and MSNBC every night.
And the office environment is getting back on track, too. I've been sucked into the vortex created by Katrina, vainly trying to keep all the other balls in the air, but today I finally had two minutes down time - enough to select a CD to blast as my soundtrack for the all-encompassing e-mail management duty. (U2's How to Build an Atomic Bomb AND Best of Van Halen - Sammy Years only, please.)
My remaining Katrina duties are now nicely prioritized on my to-do list.
But it struck me that I hope I don't lose the feeling of urgency Katrina created... the urgency to DO SOMETHING. SAY SOMETHING. That's what drove me to start this blog again. We need more voices out there.
And maybe it's not so bad that life is returning to normal, if we can start speaking and listening calmly and collectively.

Another sign of normalcy: Office Games! Word of the Day contest!
How to Play:
Get a group of willing conspirators.
Sign up for e-mail word of the day from www.m-w.com
Every morning, check the word of the day. You must use that word appropriately in a meeting, hallway conversation, or conference call.
First person in the conspiracy to use it appropriately wins! (Must be documented by another conspiracy member. - Honor system based on game theory here.)

For those of you in the PR/Communications biz - He or she who gets quoted in the paper or internal communications using the word wins!

Send your Word of the Day results in!

Sunday, September 11, 2005

The WTC Lights are On


2003 Photo courtesy of Webshots
The Twin Lights are on. I can see them from my desk in the corporate apartment. Late tonight, I'll go up to the roof on the 33rd floor and look at them. Then I'll turn around and look at the Empire State Building, which has been capped all weekend in red, white and blue lights. But tonight, it's dark.







I went to Strawberry Fields today and just sat quietly, writing in my journal. I expected some political types - maybe petitioners against something or for something, but it was pretty quiet. Lots of families, lots of tourists. Lots of older couples. Everyone stopped and looked at the famous mosiac with "Imagine" in the middle. There are NYPD barricades surrounding the mosiac, but they aren't anchored down, so some tourists carefully stepped closer to get a better shot. No one minded.

Tragedy Overload

Fourth anniversary of 9/11. I'm watching the annual reading of the names on local NBC. Now that I'm in New York, I thought I would go down to the Site and pay my respects.
But something is keeping me at home today.
As I'm watching the coverage from Ground Zero, I'm also reading up on some of the "evacuation" centers established throughout the country. There's one in my hometown outside of Chicago. There's another in Oklahoma, a camp site operated by a coalition of Baptist Churches that has been taken over by FEMA and state police. It's being set up like a penitentary.
So now I'm wondering about the duality of response to these two national disasters - the things they have in common and the horrible differences.

In Common:
- National outpouring of support
- Citizen outcry for answers (How did this happen?)
- Sadly, the racism. Arab-Americans post 9/11 (extended to any brown-skinned person) and now, black Americans. Evac centers are being set up in remote areas or in contained city centers (AstroDome, anyone?). The fear of what people who have been disenfranchised throughout their lives will do once the ultimate failure to protect, defend and serve them happens.

Differences:
- 9/11 took us to war... possibly to assuage the need for revenge against an attack. Katrina in all internal-U.S., so perhaps this isn't a difference after all. Will there be a war on poverty, racism and economic disparity? If so, sign me up.
- 9/11 accelerated a recession already in the works... Oops, again - this may not be a difference after all. Fuel prices were skyrocketing before Katrina. Now, with so many dollars going into the relief effort, there's less disposable income to buy iPods and Gap jeans with, let alone enough to fill our SUVs.
- 9/11 spawned stupid and unConstitutional anti-privacy law under the guise of "protecting" our freedoms and liberties. (The circular logic of this makes my head spin.) This may be the only real difference - Katrina will spawn stupid but perhaps Constitutional law regarding disaster relief. Hey! Let's outsource it to the Red Cross! They seem to know what they're doing.

Let's talk about Freedoms and Liberties for a minute - and what each Citizen of the United States of America is entitled to under our Constitution.

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union,
establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence,
promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves
and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United
States of America.


Oh hey! Lookie here:

Article. II. Section. 4.
The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.

But my favorite parts of the Constitution are the Amendments - not only because they prove the flexibility of our political system (because our political system is founded on a philosophy of freedom and tolerance, not on a system of royalty or totalitarianism), but because we took the opportunity to keep fixing our nation.

First Amendment
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Yay! Go First Amendment!

I thought it would be interesting to see what Google pulls up on a search for "citizens rights united states" - just to see what we're supposed to expect.

Here's a creepy site: "Why Become a U.S. Citizen?" hosted by our very own U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. #1 Reason: Showing Your Patriotism. (translation: "Paying your taxes.")

Something more in line with my ability to think on a Sunday morning from the Dummies series.

But I'm really looking for is something that says that Citizens can expect protection and security in exchange for pledging allegiance and agreeing to defend the nation in times of war. Well, well, well - lookie here. It takes me to the U.S. Homeland Security home page. And we're back at the beginning it seems. But at least we have the promise in writing:

The Bush Administration developed a comprehensive National Strategy for
Homeland Security, focused on six key areas: intelligence and warning; border
and transportation security; domestic counterterrorism; protecting critical
infrastructure; defending against catastrophic threats; and emergency
preparedness and response.

Everything on this site is about attacks on us - nothing about natural disasters, even though FEMA is under Homeland Security.

Perhaps the intent is to discourage people from getting answers? Well, it's worked. I'm done.

And they are still reading the names of the 9/11 dead on TV. They're up to the L's.

Friday, September 09, 2005

Getting your S*** together

Well... it took long enough, but the Feds finally got their S*** together and put the smack down on news media. Bad bad bad. I'm tempted to credit Karl Rove with this - and he actually may have had a part of this, seeing as how Andrews Air Force Base has been closed to media since the "War on Terrorism" in Iraq started. No more pictures of dead soldiers. And now, apparently, no more pictures of dead bodies in the Gulf States, either.
Let's review the Constitition:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.


Ok - so the reasonable question is this: Do the American people need to see pictures of dead bodies in order to understand the situation in the Gulf States?
Well... considering the view of 609 Americans polled by CNN, the average Joe Sixpack American doesn't know who to "blame" for the possibly avoidable consequences of the levees failure.

I don't feel the need to blame anyone. I know who is to blame. I know what is to blame. I feel the need to make sure those who are homeless are given real homes, not shelters; I feel the need to give money to trusted organizations like the Red Cross; I feel the need to join organizations that knew the value of organizing and supporting the poor far before I did, and I hope they welcome me; and I feel the need to call for a full investigation of the government response.

The only person who was fired for 9/11 was Bill Maher.

I swear to God - President Bush and his posse, the Governor of Louisiana and the Mayor of New Orleans will answer for this.

And shame on fema.gov for showcasing a fricking debit card on their home page. These people really are clueless. YUCK.

Wednesday, September 07, 2005

Hood winked

Ok - I honestly didn't think this report could be real. But it is.


I always thought Barbara Bush was cool. It all started when she broke her leg sledding with the grandkids.

When you combine her totally insentive words about the "underpriveleged" being better off now that they have "aid" with the moronic response of former President Bush to a reporter's question about blame (he said "The President can take it."), it makes me shudder.

I was never a fan of the Presidents Bush. But I never thought they were so frigging out of touch.

Don't bother writing the White House with your outrage. Write your local newspaper editors - they are the only ones earning the public's trust.

And speaking of the public trust: Props to Lou Dobbs for taking on the issue of using the word "refugee."

ref·u·gee
to take refuge, from Latin refugium: one that flees; especially : a person
who flees to a foreign country or power to escape danger or persecution

One that flees. Yes, there is a political overtone to the use of the word relative to the Levee Disaster... that's why the pols are freaking out about it.

And lastly - from the report that disheartens me beyond anything:

Opinions varied widely, however, on the response of federal, state and local
officials regarding Katrina. Forty-two percent of respondents characterized
President Bush's response to the disaster as "bad" or "terrible," while 35
percent said it was "good" or "great."
Federal government agencies' response
was described as "bad" or "terrible" by 42 percent, and "good" or "great" by 35
percent. State and local officials' response was described as "bad" or
"terrible" by 35 percent and "good" or "great" by 37 percent.
Respondents
also disagreed widely on who is to blame for the problems in the city following
the hurricane -- 13 percent said Bush, 18 percent said federal agencies, 25
percent blamed state or local officials and 38 percent said no one is to blame.
And 63 percent said they do not believe anyone at federal agencies responsible for handling emergencies should be fired as a result.

Soundtrack to our lives

Katrina Playlist
Bruce Springsteen's "My City in Ruins"
Bishop Allen's cover of "Eve of Destruction"
Green Day's "American Idiot"
Lucinda Williams' "Concrete and Barbed Wire"
R.E.M.'s "Can't Get There From Here"
Robert Earl Keen's "I'm Coming Home"
U2's "City of Blinding Lights"
Van Halen's "Right Here Right Now"
John Denver's "American Child"
James Taylor's "You've Got a Friend"

Add your own.

Monday, September 05, 2005

Breakdown

I was willing to cut the government some slack after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans and the Gulf States. The first rule of rescue (as least as far as I know) is to wait for the situation to stabilize before the relief can come in. And this situation was so different than the Tsunami - the water, in this case, didn't wash out as violently as it washed in. So yeah... I was willing to accept the FEMA line, and even defend it, for Day One following the levee break. And even Day Two, as water was still rising. But not at Day Three. And by Day Four, I was getting pissed. And then Days Five, Six and now Seven and on.
Props to Anderson Cooper of CNN for taking the pols to task. He chided a Senator from LA for thanking Congress and other "leaders" for passing an aid package while "people are dying" on the streets of New Orleans. Props to Brit Hume of FOX. Props to the New Orleans Times Picayune for calling for the clean sweep of FEMA "leadership."

Was this disaster a side effect of our "culture of fear" - born out of 9/11, manipulated by the artists in Washington, D.C. to their own electability benefit? After 9/11, we were nicer to each other, but our focus turned inward - to protecting ourselves from harm. Pretty much closing ourselves in to our own lives, and watching news just to figure out if we're going to harmed by anything. We practice fire drills in our office buildings, and we make sure we have everyone's cell phone number handy.

Did this bite-sized approach to safety lead to the failures in New Orleans? It was pretty well known that the levees were old and could fail in a Cat. 4 or 5 storm. But WHY wasn't there an evacuation plan, especially for those who did not have the means to escape? Total frigging neglect.

It's time to turn our "culture of fear" into a "culture of righteous anger." Fear diminished your power - you tend to listen to "leaders" who seem to have the answers. Anger is motivating, and righteous anger demands accountability and responsibility from all citizens.

I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore. Part of this is from my experience this weekend. My company was involved in the relief effort and the organizing agencies seemed to be in a complete state of chaos. All the while, we managed to open a special fund to help the employees in the area (more than $60,000 through 1,100 donations), and we are pay-protecting them. Our emergency response people were totally organized - finding our employees and the family members with them, arranging temporary housing and getting them food and water. Yes - the scale was smaller. We have about 40 people in the area. But our response team is smaller, too - less than 10 people at first, supplemented by volunteers throughout the weekend.

Oy.

If this doesn't radicalize people into activism, I don't know what will.